


I'm a Mess (Without You)

by cuddleswiththecrew



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Tower, Avengers Tower isn't sold in this one, Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bisexual Tony Stark, M/M, Multi, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Homecoming Compliant, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Bucky Barnes, Similar things have happened but we're keeping the Tower, So don't expect this to have any, The Rogues are Pardoned, Tony Stark Needs Sleep, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Touch-Starved, Tropes, don't mind me, i have never written smut, just a bi making all her characters bi, selective mutism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23943658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddleswiththecrew/pseuds/cuddleswiththecrew
Summary: "Good morning, Sir. It is approximately 2 p.m. on October 8th, 2016. Sergeant Bucky Barnes is currently doing a crossword by the coffee machine."Tony's eyes shot to the machine, and yup, the former HYDRA puppet was there, with a pen and a frown.What the fuck?"James, please, JARVIS."There was a pause. "Of course, Sergeant James Barnes."The man in question sighed, and went back to the puzzle he'd been working on. In Tony's lab. By Tony's coffee machine.Again, what the literal fuck?*     *     *The Rogues have been pardoned and returned to the Tower. James has been trying to adjust to a life away from HYDRA, and after a late night encounter with a struggling Tony Stark, gains an interest in the famous engineer. Tony's just struggling to understand why someone would want to spend time with a disaster like himself.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 13
Kudos: 198





	1. A Murderer and A Sleeping Genius Stumble Into a Lab...

**Author's Note:**

> First Fanfic, please, be gentle with me.
> 
> (Yes, that was intentional innuendo. Don't expect me to be any good at that or anything sex/romance related though.)
> 
> So the thing is, I quite love this whole selective-mutism in characters. It's interesting to explore (like, damn, I didn't realize your body could do something that extreme to protect yourself from perceived danger. It's quite interesting) and I'm always sad to see that it isn't explored more. I'm also into touch-starved stories because, c'mon, we've all got to have been there before, right?
> 
> ...
> 
> Just me? Mkay, cool.
> 
> Well, if you noticed any errors, or have any other comments, don't hesitate to share! I'm always ready to try and make this better.

The engineer was terrible at keeping secrets. James was honestly a little ashamed at Tony’s lack of abilities. The genius had lived with spies and assassins for years and had been questioned viciously by the press even longer - James had assumed there would be more layers hiding the man from prodding.

Then again, maybe all the man’s ability with lies revolved around his words. And, well, that was the problem.

James was sitting in the communal kitchen, sipping on a rootbeer float. He’d discovered the food on a movie night - involving the Rogues, and a few of the New Avengers - and decided that it was perfect for nights when he couldn’t sleep. Though his memories as Bucky had yet to make an appearance, the memories of his time as the Asset were all too willing to rise to the surface whenever he was hoping for some shut eye. 

The sugary concoction calmed him down, allowing him to focus on the feel and taste of it in his mouth instead of the screams of his previous victims. Honestly, when the memories hit, James started to wonder if he should really be locked in a lab, somewhere where there would be people to keep him from ever hurting anyone again. 

His arm trembled. Maybe it was a good thing that he’d yet to figure out a replacement for his left one; he didn’t want to give himself the ability to be used as a weapon again. 70 years of that shit was enough for him. 

The soft opening of the elevator caused James to tense. It was nearing three in the morning, _who else could be up right now_? He was sure that Steve didn’t get up until 5, and none of the other Rogues or Avengers seemed likely to get up anytime earlier than that. 

He didn’t turn around, but someone padded closer. He couldn’t really recognize them, which was odd. The only person who lived here that he hadn’t seen much was -

Tony Stark looked, well, not great. That’s probably the only reason he’d actually ventured around the house (James swore he’d only seen the man two times in the month the Rogues had been living in the Tower). That and the fact that it was ass early in the morning. 

James sat still in the chair in an effort to avoid scaring off the genius. With the grease stained clothing, and glossy eyes the genius was currently stating (wearing? What’s the word) James was pretty sure that the mechanic was completely unaware that he was being watched. 

The brunette seemed drunk. James knew that wasn’t true since he’d noticed a distinct lack of alcohol on the premise, and hadn’t failed to notice that the genius had a 2 month token in his lab the one time he had been allowed in. The swaying and stumbling was definitely due to a lack of sleep, and James’ eyebrows twitched up. The hell was this man thinking, not sleeping? And just how little sleep was he getting. 

James flinched as he realized some of the exhaustion was probably due to him when he and Steve had attacked in Siberia. That whole incident was the cause of a high amount of nightmares for James. He’d be free, and yet another man had almost died from him anyways.

 _HYDRA wasn’t the only reason you’re a screw up_. James was desperate to scrub his forehead or punch something, but Tony was still safely oblivious, and was currently…

Falling asleep at the coffee machine, arms covering the plastic and metal contraption in order to cushion Tony’s head. It was sort of cute - aside from the fact that the engineer was completely covered in grime, sweat, and grease in a way that was most definitely not cute or advisable. And the fact that James didn’t know how hot those machines got. 

He sat for a second in silence, wanting to squirm but ignoring the feeling. The man before James definitely needed sleep, but if the machine got hot it could harm him. However, the machine was going to beep in a couple minutes and wake the genius anyways, so maybe James should just do so immediately to prevent injury. 

He stood from the stool, watching Tony for any change in movement. The genius simply continued to slump against the machine, light snores being let loose as he settled into his nap. 

Damn it, how was James supposed to wake him up in this situation?

“As a being who is made to observe Sir,” and with that James jumped up, having completely forgotten about the being embedded in the Tower, “I believe that moving Sir is advisable, and would encourage you to carry him down to the Lab.”

James frowned at that. Did JARVIS seriously think that Tony was in any state to keep working? “But Stark shouldn’t be working-”

JARVIS quickly cut in. “Sir hasn’t had more than an hour of rest at a time in a week. I am not suggesting that he continues, merely that he is moved to an area more comfortable for him to wake in.” There was a slight pause. “If you could move him down to the lab without waking Sir, I’d be most grateful. 

James’ eyebrow raised at that. What would make the lab more comfortable? When he’d been down there the one time, there had been a couch, and some cot in the corner, but surely the Penthouse was better for him. Even if Tony liked his lab, comfortable sleeping situations seemed more important when one was this sleep deprived. 

“Why not the Penthouse, JARVIS?” He let the words sneak into the silence, murmured in order to prevent Tony from waking. JARVIS had seemed to guess that James shared increased hearing like Steve, and their quiet conversation hadn’t led Tony to so much as stir. 

“Sir…” The pause lasted a while, and James guessed JARVIS was trying to determine just how much information he should give the ex-assassin. JARVIS himself sounded exhausted, and James guessed that if Tony hadn’t been this bad off, JARVIS wouldn’t ever be opening up this much to James. 

Was there anyone who’d been looking after Tony? Rhodey and Pepper were gone currently, and the New Avengers didn’t seem to interact with Tony all that much. Or maybe JARVIS just didn’t want to wake anyone else and had decided that James would be acceptable with assisting Tony. 

“Sir is quite attached to the Lab, and finds comfort within it.” The answer was pretty simple, and didn’t really give much explanation, but James found it sufficient. Obviously, Tony liked being surrounded by tech, probably because it was what he had always had to fight back. 

James nodded, realizing that JARVIS probably wanted some sort of response, and then stared at Tony. He’d curled even farther into the machine, arms wrapped tightly around it. It would, once again, look cute, aside from one thing: the frown on Tony’s face. 

The man’s sleep apparently was not as peaceful as one would hope, and so James guessed that moving the man was a much better idea than leaving the man to sleep leaning on the machine. The only problem was, how to get him uncurled. 

James gently touched one of Tony’s arms, holding his breath as the man let out a grunt. How the hell was he supposed to get this man out without waking him up?

He looked the man up and down. If he tried to remove the genius’ arms, he may wake up and/or have his head smack against the machine. So maybe…

Decision made, James once again nodded, and then -

And then he remembered he only had one arm now and cursed. 

“If I may, Sir seems to be in a deep enough sleep that you could slightly rouse him and he’d be able to resume rest. Given the situation, I think that the best way is probably a fireman’s carry.”

James sighed. It wasn’t what he’d want to do, but it was looking like the only option they had. Hopefully JARVIS was right, and Tony would stay asleep. 

James stood right next to Tony, taking a second to look at him. The man really did look terrible. The bags under his eyes were too dark not to notice, and the thought of touching Tony’s hair right now made James want to cringe. Sure, he himself had been on the streets and lived with greasy hair and grime all over himself, but he wouldn’t ever want to live through that again, and seeing it on a man who liked to present himself as put together felt all sorts of wrong. 

James finally raised his hand back up, and decided to move himself to Tony’s side in order to scoop his arm under both armpits. Tony let out a whine, shifting towards James and away from the machine. 

James was left frozen. Tony whined again, and James pulled him closer and away from the machine, still in shock as the mechanic let out a small puff of air and cuddled into James’ chest. It was really, really cute, and also really, really painful to see. Tony would never want to be near him like this when awake, and it took the man completely letting go of any care of his health in order for him to be left trusting James.

He almost didn’t want to move the genius, content with allowing the exhausted man to lean against his chest, but laying down and being in a more comfortable resting position appeared to be important. So, pushing Tony back a little, he then swung the man over his shoulder. Tony grunted again.

James wrapped his arm around Tony’s legs. “I got you, just rest, doll.” James panicked at the nickname slipping, but Tony just seemed to relax and try to go back to sleep again. 

Apparently when the man reached a certain level of tiredness, he just became uncaring of anything around himself.

James walked to the elevator, trying to move carefully. _This would be so much easier with two arms._

JARVIS closed the door and started the elevator as soon as the two were fully inside. Tony’s snores filled the space, and James couldn’t help but smile. Tony shouldn’t have exhausted himself so much - and there was no way James would be allowed to be near the engineer if the man hadn’t been so completely out of it - but James had to admit that the man was adorable sleeping. 

He was also severely underweight. A problem that James had noticed prior to this moment, but hadn’t realized the extent until now. 

“When’s the last time he ate?”

There was a pause that James knew meant JARVIS was thinking, once again trying to figure out what information should be protected from Maria and Howard’s _murderer._

James, well, he really couldn't blame JARVIS or Tony for their hesitancy towards him.

“Sir… has not had anything aside from coffee in the last 16 hours.”

James could tell that there had been a hell of a lot left out of that statement. Due to the appearance of Tony on the communal floor, James was willing to wager Tony had run out of coffee earlier, and had waited until the middle of the night to risk venturing for any. He couldn’t help but wonder how long it would have taken for Tony to risk getting food if he’d had a big enough supply of coffee in his lab.

He, probably didn’t want to know the answer.

James wondered if the man had been too out of it to ask JARVIS about people being in the kitchen. It was the most likely explanation for their run in, and the man was definitely exhausted enough to have been oblivious to the world around him. 

Said man let out a soft gust of air right onto James’ back, and the ex-soldier was immediately thrown back into reality, where the elevator door was open.

“Sergeant Barnes? Are you well?”

James shook his head, and entered the lab.

Which had both changed a lot and remained the same as the last time he’d been there. The projects scattered throughout were different, but the chaotic nature of the work tables was the same as the first time he’d witnessed Tony’s haven. 

The biggest difference was the non tech related mess.

James had never thought to check on Tony. Hell, he had killed the man’s parents, why on Earth would Tony want anything to do with _James_? And he’d known just how unwilling Tony was to interact with the Rogues, and how little attention they dedicated to the engineer.

James hadn’t realized just what locking himself alone in the lab had meant for Tony.

There was garbage - mainly food wrappers - everywhere. One trashcan looked to be entirely dedicated to used coffee grounds, and its exposure to air led the smell to permeate the room with a constant, unpleasant smell. James wouldn’t be surprised if mold was growing all over the lab. 

“Jesus, Tony.” How had the man been surviving in this mess? No wonder James hadn’t been down since that first time- not only was he previously a member of HYDRA, but he doubted Tony would ever trust either him or the Rogues to see how poorly he was holding up.

James didn’t know that he’d be any better at coping with the betrayal of friends he had trusted.

James let out a long sigh. Even the bed he’d come to bring Tony to (or, as James noted, a mattress on a cot) was covered in what must’ve been an oil stained blanket and sheet.

He winced.

“JARVIS, any chance Tony has sheets down here?”

He was sort of expecting a no. There could be no way that someone would leave their bed in such a poor condition if there was a solution within the same room.

“They are located in the bottom shelf of the cabinet on the left of the cot, Sergeant.”

And yet again, James found he was wrong about Tony Stark.

“Jesus, Tony.” James set off to the couch, attempting to lie the sleeping man down so he could prepare the bed. He wasn’t very happy that a still dirty Tony would be going into it, but there wasn’t much James could do about that problem.

He noticed a blanket on the end of the couch, but it was, unsurprisingly, gross. He didn’t want to leave the man without some comfort - ad James’had noted the frown from earlier was slowly returning to Tony’s face - so he removed his hoodie. The thick fabric couldn’t stretch much, and he couldn’t actually get it on the sleeping man, but he hoped the extra layer over Tony’s upper body would create some heat. 

Additionally, Tony and James’ hoodie just seemed to go perfectly together. He’d love to see the engineer in it sometime. James’ wasn’t necessarily taller than Tony, but his extra bulk would mean the hoodie would drown Tony.

Shaking away the thought, James turned to the cabinet. He grabbed a pair of black sheets, an extra comforter, and a new pillow and case (he was willing to bet that the pillow had managed to get gross even with a case).

The cot was redone, the one armed vet finishing tucking the corners tightly a couple minutes later. It might not have been his best work but for only having one arm, he was feeling pretty satisfied with it. 

Even that asshole Wilson would have to admit he did a decent job. 

And then there was a whimper from Tony.

James didn't’ remember the walk to the couch, but someone he had ended up in front of Tony. The older - or, well, younger - man had curled around Jame’s hoodie, letting out barely there notes of pain. 

James may have not remembered anything outside of being the Soldier, but for some reason he felt compelled to try and comfort the man before him. James placed a hand on one of the man’s biceps, and stared as the engineer started to relax, twisting towards James.

Which was definitely odd. And made him wonder…

James moved his hand to cup one side of Tony’s face, and the man let out a small breath, shifting into James’ touch. He ignored the heat that went to his face at the warm puff of air hitting his hand.

He had never seen Tony react well to anyone reaching for him. There was always some sort of flinching involved, which didn’t go unnoticed by anyone; James had seen the Rogues gradually give up on casual shoulder grasps in greeting the engineer. 

So having that same man move toward touch in his sleep, had to mean that there was something else there. And James could think of two things: a lack of trust with others, or a surprise reaction to something Tony just didn’t have much of in his life. The Rogues could definitely have both going, but if the problem was the latter…. Tony might be missing out on a comfort and need for long enough that he was unable to hold back such surprise at the positive touch.

But, Tony and his friends. And they probably touched whenever they were around him. 

Which, really wasn’t all that often in James' memory.

The man in question shifted again, one of his hands coming to rest on James’ own. Which was both adorable, and a bit gross due to the mess that was the man’s hands. 

_It’s definitely an upgrade,_ somewhere in his mind unhelpfully supplied. 

He should probably look into that later. For now, he pushed it away in favor of digging for more information. And who better to get information from, than the beautiful supercomputer JARVIS.

“Is physical contact helpful?”

James knew JARVIS had understood the question. Let it be known though, that the AI liked to be fucking childish. “Whatever do you mean, Sergeant.” And there it was, the distinct lack of a questioning tone. 

How the hell had Tony created someone so snarky?

James wanted to roll his eyes, but settled on just stroking Tony’s cheek. Said man had resumed the light snoring from earlier. And, for some unknown reason, James was really starting to like the small noise that let him know Tony was with him. 

“Does Tony need physical contact with someone in order to sleep?”

JARVIS let out a brief hum. “Yes”

James’ mind started trying to plan, reverting into the coolness he’d typically associated with the Soldier and HYDRA missions. It made him wince, but he probably needed to assess this situation in order to figure out the best way to fix up the mess that was Tony’s lab.

“How often would I need to touch him?”

Another pause. James was starting to enjoy the cautious manner JARVIS was using, rather than the harsh, cold anger the AI typically used with the Rogues. The pauses were human, reassuring James. There were still moments he felt HYDRA had ruined him forever. If this AI could show this much emotion though, maybe the ex soldier could do the same.

“I will calculate how.” JARVIS sounded a bit colder.

James nodded, then took in the state of the engineer. Seriously, the grime was making him annoyed. How could he clean up this mess and take care of Tony when the man was so unkempt. “Would a quick swipe of a rag wake him up? Does he even have clean rags down here?” 

“I… would not advise moving Sir much. He deserves his sleep.”

James barely held in another eye roll, but the exasperated huff still made it out. “I don’t doubt that.”

Another hum from JARVIS. “Glad to hear, Sergeant. If you do need towels, they can be found in the cabinets under the sink.” 

Ah yes, the pitiful bathroom setup.

“And with touch, I estimate that Sir could remain peacefully asleep for around five minutes without a comforting presence.”

James nodded, but it didn’t seem as though the AI had finished his piece. “If, this is too overwhelming for you, I-”

“Don’t be absurd.” James once again swung Tony up, and the engineer released a groan. The trip over to the bed was quick, and James got Tony settled without any problem. 

He let himself rub a streak off the man’s face before getting up. “Alright, JARVIS, I’m going to need your help with this next bit.

“And what is this “next bit” exactly?”

James looked around the lab again. “What I shouldn’t touch, what I can clean up, what I should bring from the communal kitchen to here, and where Tony’s cleaning supplies are.”

Another hum. James hadn’t failed to notice that these correlated with when the AI was pleased. James guessed the state of the lab had begun to frustrate JARVIS as well. 

“Of course, Sergeant.”


	2. Funny Seeing "Brew" Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony POV
> 
> The lab's clean (sorry, I really really really like it when things are clean even though I'm lazy and suck at cleaning), and the bois are here. (yes, the reason they weren't here before is flimsy; I'll maybe fix it later)

Tony woke up to warmth, and the smell of coffee.  _ Shit, had he fallen asleep on the communal floor?  _ He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone right now. 

Or, really anytime before he figured out a good way to hide his latest problem.

Said problem being his vocal cords acting like an ass.

He’d been experimenting (and seriously, could you really expect him not to experiment? He was Tony Stark, and the  _ genius _ in ‘genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist’ still stood) with his newfound condition. The freezing of his voice hadn’t been a problem with JARVIS, Happy, Rhodey, Pepper, or with Harley and Peter. He’d made sure to try calling a fuck ton of people after emerging from his post-Siberia lab binge, when the unfortunate development had made itself known. 

Tony had looked it up, and only one answer seemed at all in the ballpark of what was going on - aside from it being a childhood disorder, and Tony clearly having passed that classification years ago. 

But barring this having been a prank from Loki - which if it was, kudos to the God. Tony couldn’t deny it was an ingenious idea, making the man without a filter spelled into silence - anything that could’ve been an answer needed further research. In this case, into his own past.

And, Tony really didn’t want to think about his childhood. He’d been a bit of a freak, and there’d been a lot of visits to the doctor.

He still fucking hated doctors to this day. All prodding and poking him to figure out what was wrong. He’d known that not talking around anyone but Jarvis, Ana, and his mother was weird, especially after being made fun of at school. But he didn’t know how to fix it.

So Howard had forced him to with doctors visits and testing and now Tony was. Full circle. 

And none of that even touched on any of the loneliness and cold shoulders he’d been given by all but Rhodey and anyone looking to use him for money or a quick tumble in the sheets. Needless to say, his whole life experience prior to Obie’s death had been a mess.

And he guessed after was a mess too. But some PTSD from being stuck in space and realizing that they were going to be unable to stand up to the horrors of the galaxy paled in comparison to the realization that everyone who was close to him could be lying.

Damn it, now this whole mess made sense. Steve was just another Obie, but this time it’d just broken whatever semblance of normal Howard had forced onto Tony. 

_ Fuck _ , he really needed to stop spiraling like this. Better to just compartmentalize the problem and keep building. 

A waft of coffee again caught his attention. Tony turned his head and, yup, that was  _ definitely not the coffee machine. _

His eyes shot open, all thoughts of shitty parenting and weird behaviors out of mind. And Tony Stark - genius extraordinaire - found himself confused. 

The lab had been a lot messier, if he was remembering correctly. Which Tony was 83% sure he was remembering right, but, he’d been a little out of it.

It’d be a long couple of weeks cooped up in the lab.

“Good morning, Sir. It is approximately 2:13 pm on October 8th, 2016. Sergeant Bucky Barnes is currently doing a crossword by the coffee machine.”

Tony’s eyes shot to the machine, and, yup, the former HYDRA puppet was there, with a pen and a frown.  _ What the fuck? _

“James, please JARVIS.”

A pause. “Of course, Sergeant James Barnes.”

The man in question sighed, hand shifting to fill in a word on the puzzle. Which, again,  _ what the fuck? _

Tony had a 100 year old supersoldier sitting inside his lab, which was cleaner than it had any right to be. Tony opened his mouth to let loose some sort of quip to the soldier, but nothing happened aside from his throat feeling strained.  _ Shit _ , he’d forgotten about his problem. 

“There’s some coffee in the pot, and considering you slept almost 11 hours, I won’t stop you from having any.” Tony rolled his eyes. Not even someone with super-strength could keep Tony from his coffee. He started to shift up to grab some.

But Barnes wasn’t done talking. “You’re not getting any before you go take a damn shower.” Barnes looked up, nose scrunched. “Seriously, your hair is a mess.”

Once again, there was a comment waiting to be made, and once again, Tony couldn’t make it. He huffed, rolling his eyes. Seriously, Tony had less ill will towards the assassin than the Rogues, _ but who did he think he was ordering Tony Stark around? _

As if sensing his annoyance, JARVIS chimed in. “I must agree with James. It’s been far too long since you last bathed, and for your own health I must insist that you do so Sir.” Tony flipped off the nearest sensor, even as he pushed himself up and off the bed. While the two were being rudely blunt, they weren’t wrong. A shower would probably be best, even if the smell of coffee made his mouth water.

He groaned a little, back popping as he left the bed, which -  _ since when had the sheets been dark? _ He could’ve sworn they were red, if a little dirty with coffee and oil stains. Apparently he was misremembering the details of his lab?

Tony really needed to sleep more, if only for his own sanity. Then again, having nightmares just messed with said sanity anyways, so, no way to avoid that. 

The pops of his body filled the quiet lab, and Tony winced. No way Buc -  _ James  _ \- had missed that. But the soldier kept looking down, eyes searching the newspaper before him. A real, fucking newspaper.

Supersoldiers and their stupid newspapers.

Tony pushed away the thought in favor of heading to the small bathroom. A clean towel was hanging next to the shower, and a neat pile of clothing sat on the toilet lid. 

Had JARVIS threatened Barnes into taking care of him? As much as JARVIS wanted to help out himself, Tony had yet to give the AI the ability to do something like this. And the rest of his kids were a bit of disasters who wouldn’t have been able to do this without creating a mess. So, the culprit had to be Barnes.

Whatever. He was still tired - though better rested -and just wanted to get clean so he could drink a pot of coffee.

He was out fast, having scrubbed himself raw in order to separate whatever oils and sweat had melded into his skin. His hair had in fact, been disgusting, and he hoped Barnes had been the only one to have seen it like that.

He toweled off, briefly looking into the mirror.  _ Damn _ , he’d gotten pale and thin.  _ Might need to start using makeup again. _

But not now. Barnes had seen him in a worse state, and Tony had yet to get any life juice - wet hair and an unhealthy pallor weren’t worth trying to fix if it’d leave him without coffee. 

He walked out of the bathroom, letting loose a yawn. Damn, 11 hours was not enough to make up for weeks of less than satisfactory self-care.

If any of his friends had heard that thought, he was sure he’d be subject to eye-rolls and  _ I told you so _ ’s. Which is why he’d never be informing them of said thought; he was a genius, no one should ever be right while he was wrong.

Tony raised an eyebrow at the site of Barnes at the coffee machine, pouring a mug of Tony’s favorite drink. The mess Barnes had made of the counter was sort of enduring; not even HYDRA could take humanity and its mistakes out of a person.

Apparently Barnes wasn’t as thrilled about this. “Fuck this machine. I mean seriously, it was hard enough putting in the grounds.” He put down the coffee carafe, and tugged at his hair. 

Tony, well, was a little surprised. And then upset when his comment failed to come out. 

Thank god JARVIS knew him so well. “Sir’s machine is a loved item, Sergeant. I’m certain he’d disagree with your anger towards it.” 

Barnes lifted his arm to flip off the air. “You’re a bit of a dick, anyone ever tell you that JARVIS?”

Tony frowned. JARVIS may be a sassy asshole, but only Tony was allowed to call him such. He was about to find a way to kick Barnes out when JARVIS responded.

“Just because you were unsuccessful with your word search and I wasn’t doesn’t make me a “dick”, James. It makes you uneducated.”

Tony’s mouth dropped, Barnes snickered, and JARVIS seemed to be smugly waiting for some sort of response. 

Which is when DUM-E made an appearance. 

The bot rushed in, arm whirling excitedly. Tony had confined him and his siblings to the closet during the first week he’d holed up in the lab, to keep them out of the mess that had become his lab and prevent them from becoming distressed. They’d come out occasionally to try and make him smoothies, until the supplies for them had run out. 

Tony guessed JARVIS had deemed the lab clean once again safe enough for them. 

DUM-E raced towards Tony, butting the genius’ leg. Tony smiled; he’d missed seeing his kids fly around the lab, and DUM-E’s energy was helping him feel a little better. 

He tried for a light tease, but his throat tensed. Tony froze.  _ He could’ve sworn he was fine around the bots earlier  _ \- oh, Barnes was around.

DUM-E beeped, and JARVIS responded to the question. “I believe Sir is happy to see you too.”

DUM-E chirped happily. Tony smiled at the bot. Thank goodness his kids didn’t question the lack of talking around them. DUM-E just seemed happy to be let back in the lab to roam free.

U fled the closet as well, and joined DUM-E in surrounding Tony. He smiled, hugging the two bots as they surrounded them. Man, he loved his children. Pushing them away because he was freaking out might have been a bad call. Tony was glad JARVIS had gotten around Tony’s request for their detainment while he had been sleeping. 

He tucked his head against one of his kids, and snuggled up to them. Coffee could wait; right now he wanted to show his kids how much he cared about them, and how sorry he was for ignoring them. 

_ Love you guys _ . 

If only he could freely say so. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so, I'm not super happy with this chapter. It's been a bit of a week.  
> I've also unfortunately discovered that working at a large franchise coffeehouse isn't fun - which is frustrating because I fucking love coffee! I'm starting to realize that if I want to work with coffee I'd need to work at a small coffee shop, which are much harder to get jobs at.  
> So I'll probably quit that job in a month or two. Until then, I'm prob gonna be busy being tired due to that.   
> Luckily, I also have another 'essential' job at the moment, and while I originally was bored with it I now am so ready to go back to working full time there and only there in that month or two (because, it'd be a bit of a dick move to just quit now, right?
> 
> Anyways, TL;DR - this chapter isn't great, I'll work on it and try to get on a good schedule and come up with a set plan for how this story is going to go. This may be updated at some point but if so I'll add it to the chapter summary. Stay safe!


End file.
